Other events in Baltic States

On Sunday President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Mrs. Evelin Ilves will participate at the 3rd Finnish-Estonian Dance Festival in Tampere along with the Finnish presidential couple, the president's press service said.

The Finnish-Estonian Dance Festival is a folk dance and music event that takes place in Tampere from 13 to 17 June. 5,000 dancers, singers and players of various instruments from Finland, Estonia and other European countries will take part in the event. The Dance Festival is called "Velisinfonia/Vennassümfoonia" (Brotherhood Symphony) and will be directed by Petri Kauppinen from Finland and Kalev Järvela from Estonia.

The organisers of Dance Festival 2012 are Folklore Suomi Finland and the Estonian Association of Folk Dance and Music. The Estonian Song and Dance Celebration Foundation, Estonian National Folklore Council and Finnish Association of Youth Societies are also participating.

The first joint Finnish-Estonian Dance Festival took place in 2000 in Helsinki and the 2nd in 2005 in Tartu.

The Dance Festival forms an important part of cultural co-operation and folklore exchange between the two countries. The presidents of both countries are the patrons of the festival.